A Slight Change of Plans

There are a number of reasons for this. I’m not going to go into all of them. But I think it’s no secret that Night Shade has been having money trouble. There are a lot of reasons for that as well—Borders closing, the continued squeeze on the buying public’s disposable income, their change in distributor—but I don’t really care to dive into that. The fact of the matter was that there were money issues, and that was one of the driving factors behind this decision.

There were also scheduling issues. Night Shade Books is going through a contraction, taking their contracted books and spreading them over the course of a longer period. Basically this means that they’re going from about three books a month to two. What that also means is that some books won’t come out at the same time as originally planned. Mine was one of those. We were looking at a year or more delay on The Flames of Shadam Khoreh, which was frustrating because (a) I didn’t hear that news until only recently and (b) the book is ready now. Finding readers is hard enough without having a two-year gap between books, so this was obviously not an ideal situation.

We talked about some possibilities to resolve the situation, to try to recapture the market for these books. We talked about a print-on-demand version this year, followed by a more traditional release later, and we hashed over the money issues a bit and tried to find some common ground. In the end, though, I felt it was better if we parted ways. Night Shade gave these books a life, and I’m thankful for that, but the truth is I’ll be able to put a lot more effort into the release of the third book than they will right now. Let me be clear about this, though. There’s no bad blood between us. They’ll continue to sell the trade versions of The Winds of Khalakovo and The Straits of Galahesh, while I’ll release The Flames of Shadam Khoreh and also re-release the e-versions of Books 1 and 2.

I’m excited about taking the reins. I’m excited about taking this directly to readers. I’m excited about rebranding the series. I have a ton of plans for the release, including a Kickstarter for the third book.

What I’m most excited about, though, is how the trilogy finished. It turned out really well. I’m so pleased with it. If you enjoyed WINDS and STRAITS, you’re going to love FLAMES.

I’ll have more news soon, including a post where I reveal the new cover design for all three books.

Thanks so much, Rabia. I don’t tend to spend a lot of mental effort on negative things. And I’m really excited about the possibilities! There’s something to be said for being in control of your own fate.

That’s one of the wrinkles we’re working through. Audible bought all three books last summer, so that should still be on track, but those rights still need to be transferred. I’m hoping audio will be released about the same time, but I have no control over it.

These books have been on my wishlist for years. I almost bought a Kindle version today, but I’d rather wait until all three ebooks are in your hands so I can feel confident that the proceeds from my purchase will go directly to you.